


I Love To Make Believe The Universe Is Ours

by Jag_Erin



Series: Tomorrow Is Another Day [3]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Apocalypse Survival, Assassin - Freeform, Companionship, Continuation, Delusions, Emotional Instability, F/M, Fighting, Five is in love with a Doll, Insanity, Mannequin, Mental Instability, Open Ending, Season 2, Sequel, Time Travel, season two
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-07
Updated: 2020-09-07
Packaged: 2021-03-07 05:27:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 11,625
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26347852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jag_Erin/pseuds/Jag_Erin
Summary: Five is alone in the world and in order to keep hold of his sanity, he has to create a fantasy in his mind. Over the years, it's the only thing that brings him comfort sometimes.At least until 1963 when his siblings are incapable of meeting a simple deadline. A chance encounter while looking for a drink might be the answer to their problems.-Sequel to 'She Likes Sequins' and 'You Radiate Emotion That I Just Don't Understand'-
Relationships: Dolores & Number Five | The Boy (Umbrella Academy), Number Five | The Boy & Original Character(s)
Series: Tomorrow Is Another Day [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1903129
Comments: 2
Kudos: 35





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story spans a large number of years in very few chapters. Therefore, there are a lot of time jumps.

Goggles. Thermal blankets. Water cantine. Find water to fill the cantine. A cart of some sort, for now. Better coverage clothing. A knife. Whatever matches and lighters he could find. A good backpack. A gun might be useful too. Rope. A first aid kit. Toilet paper, if it wasn’t all burned away. A tarp for shelter. Maybe some flashlights. A water filter would be a good idea. One of those small tool kits. Duct tape. Durable work gloves. A whistle to blow occasionally to see if anyone responded. Trash bags. Food was going to be an issue, just by the looks of things. He’d have to figure that out as he went. His best option was the remains of any stores and gas stations he could find. He was sure he’d come up with other things as he got to searching for stuff. 

Five knew what he had done wrong. He’d miscalculated how far forward he was going. He had let his feelings get the better of him. He’d cared more about the fact that he could time travel and less about how he would manage the jump itself. Five had decided he was ready to do it and when he was told he wasn’t allowed, he just had to do it anyway. His father telling him he wasn’t ready just what pushed him over the edge, but it wasn’t what started it.

His last call to Dolores was what pushed him into telling his dad that he wanted to time travel. She hadn’t been gone very long and they had had their first phone call. It had been difficult to get the call in. It wasn’t like they each had their own phone line in their rooms. He had to use the phone by the stairs and people kept walking by and asking who he was talking to and it just ended up a frustrating conversation.

She would try to talk and he’d only half-listen while he was trying to shoo Klaus away. Then she’d get upset when he wouldn’t answer her question or said something that didn’t make sense to what she was saying. He made a snappy comment that he would just time jump to next summer and see her then. Dolores hadn’t found it funny and said it would be stupid for him to try time travel now.

Look where it had got him.

Wandering up and down the streets, Five wasn’t even sure what day it was. He knew it had been at least or after April the first when he got here. The newspaper he found said April the first, but it was hard to tell if that was the day he got here or not. None of the clocks he found worked, most of the calendars and planners he found were burned to a crisp, along with most of the electronics he found. Though he had his doubts they would even really work if he could get them to turn on.

It was hard telling how many days had passed since he got here. The days and nights didn’t seem to last the right amount of time. He figured it was due to the dust in the sky. Whatever had happened, it had raised a large dust cloud that the sun couldn’t get through properly. He tried to figure it out and knew he’d continue to try, but today he tried to focus on his next steps. He had to figure out how to get back home.

Time naturally moved forward. It didn’t like the idea of moving back. It was going to require a lot of work. He’d been going over theories for it and writing stuff down, but searching through the remains of his home, he found nothing of the old work he’d done. While he couldn’t pinpoint the exact date he arrived, he knew that the newspaper he found wasn’t completely burned and it had minimal time degradation. So he knew it couldn’t have been too long after whatever happened. That meant he jumped almost seventeen years. The chances of his work still being here after that long and after whatever happened was slim to none. He was going to have to start over.

For now, he was picking up and tossing rocks as he dug through the rubble of some kind of store. He’d found a wagon in what was probably the toy section. It would have to due for now. He assumed he was in some kind of clothing section now. He wasn’t just looking for better clothing for himself to deal with the heat, wind, and smoke. He was looking for burial clothes. 

It didn’t seem right to leave his family buried in the ashes of their home. They deserved better than that. He’d managed to recover most of the bodies. Luther’s was the first he found and pulled out. He didn’t find Ben or Vanya. Nor did he find their father. For the ones he did find, he wanted to at least wrap them in something and bury them. He’d need a shovel too. Just something more to add to the list. 

There were other stores he could have started digging through, but most of them still had fires going. This one seemed to have smoldered out. Made it easier to not have to move hot bricks and metal. His hands were sore and blistered already, but he knew stopping wasn’t an option. Gather what he needed, then start planning and work.

“Shit!” he nearly fell back off the rock he was standing on as he moved a piece of drywall and a hand was poking out from under it. At first, he thought he found another body, he’d found several since getting here, but he realized quickly that it wasn’t a real hand. Getting his footing again, he moved another rock and saw the face. It was a mannequin. 

Her doll face looked out of place in the rubble. She wasn’t smiling, but she wasn’t frowning. Her face was dirty, but it looked undamaged. The paint was, surprisingly, still intact. The rosy color of her cheeks and the way her eyes were painted to look like they had a bit of shine to them. It was strange to look at. It wasn’t like anything else he’d seen since getting here. She looked almost alive. Unmoving, but alive. Awake and alive. Sitting down, he stared at it. How it had survived whatever happened, Five couldn’t say. He’d come across the melted remains of similar items, but nothing like this. Nothing intact, “Bet you know what happened around here,” it was strange to talk to a mannequin, but it wasn’t like there was anyone else around to hear it.

The clouds shifted a little and he caught a glimmer in the hazy light that poked through. It was laying on top of the rocks nearby. He carefully climbed over to it. He really needed to find better shoes. Some good boots. 

He’d expected to find some piece of metal or, if he was lucky, some kind of tool. Instead, it was a brown messenger bag. Five fell to his knees as he picked it up with shaking hands. He stared at it for a long time, running his fingers over the front of it, “Dolores…” he muttered her name softly as his fingers ran against the little sequined plant. There was more than just Saturn now. She had added what looked like Mars and Jupiter. 

Had she been here when it happened? Five assumed everywhere might be like this, considering no one seemed to be coming for search and rescue missions. Why would she have been in the city when this happened? He remembered they had plans for her to come back the following summer and meet up. Had she come back that summer even though he’d never called her again. Seventeen years and she’d been in the city that day.

It didn’t make sense though. The bag was very clean. It wasn’t burned or torn up. When he brought it up to his nose, it even smelled nice. It had been on top of the rubble, “Dolores?!” he called out as he stood up and looked around. There was no response. Five didn’t know why he expected there to be one. 

Opening the bag, he found a few things inside. Nothing unusual. A notebook, some pens, a set of keys, a newish looking cell phone, and a wallet. He pulled out the wallet and started to look through it. There wasn’t much in it. Just a few dollars, a picture of a dog, and an ID card. Five stared at the picture on the card. It was strange. Her name was next to it, but he had trouble recognizing the woman. 

She was pretty, but her face was cold and unmoving. Not smiling, but not frowning. It was like that mannequin. Alive, but it was like her features were painted on her face. The card didn’t say what it was for and it didn’t look like a government card. It just had a picture, her name, and a barcode on the back. 

Sighing, he trudged his way back to the mannequin and looked down at it, “Guess it’s just us,” he said as he slung the messenger bag on.


	2. Chapter 2

The library seemed as good as any place to go. It was the place he was most likely to find books on the subjects he needed. Sadly, most of them were burnt to a crisp. He found a few in the basement storage, but a lot of the stuff down there was just books no one wanted. He did find a few useful ones though. One of the half-broken down walls was not only good for putting a tarp up around for shelter, but it made a good writing wall. 

Five hadn’t traveled around too much just yet. He wanted to get a good base camp set up first. Five knew that widespread travel wasn’t the answer. The further he went, the more chances he had at exhausting himself. This was about survival. He needed a good set up first and he’d start mapping out locations after that. Slow and steady for now.

It was hard to tell how long he’d been here, but he tried to measure the days and the growth of his own body. He kept some of his old clothes, just so he could put them on and see how much smaller they were than the last time they tried them on. He figured once he couldn’t put the jacket on right anymore, he would at least be in his twenties. Right now, it was just a little short on the sleeves. He was at least sixteen now. It felt like it had been more than that since he’d been here, but he had no real way of knowing. He just made marks on the walls for what he felt had been a passing day. Everything was an estimate at this point.

“I’m home,” he said as he climbed through the opening in the tarp he’d set up. He was covered in dust, but that was normal now. He pulled off his goggles and hat, tossing them onto the ground and going to slump down in the remaining corner that was standing, “Not that anyone cares,” he sighed as he leaned back against the wall and pulled the messenger bag into his lap. He tried to keep the sequined side against his body when he was out with it. Trying to keep it flat against himself to keep them intact for as long as possible. 

His eyes flicked over to the mannequin sitting on a chair next to him. He’d hauled it out of the rubble and carried it around in his wagon. It had been a comfort thing at first. It was just nice looking at something that looked human. It mostly just sat there on that chair. He made comments to it, mostly because it was comforting to talk. He didn’t expect answers and he didn’t ask it questions or make conversation with it. At least not usually.

“What’d you do all day? Just sit there? Couldn’t have tried to figure out some of that?” he pointed at the wall where he had been writing his equations. 

He stared at her for a moment. At first, he had always referred to her as _it_ when he thought about her. As of late, though, he started thinking about the mannequin as _her_. It felt better that way. She was the only other human-looking thing around. He’d found bits and pieces of other mannequins and plenty of dead bodies, but nothing like her. She was missing an arm and from the waist down, but that was more than anything else he’d found.

“I found some stuff,” he muttered as he started pulling things out of the messenger bag. The first was a blouse. It was a little dirty and there was a small burn hole in the back, but it was mostly nice still. It was green. He’d noticed it while picking through a store he found. The color had caught his eye. It stood out against how muted everything was, “I, uh, I thought you might like a change,” she had been wearing the same polka-dotted blouse since he found her. It was extremely dirty and tattered.

Though now that he held it up, he realized there was an issue, “Sorry. I know you only got one arm. It would be hard to change yourself…” he thought about it more after he said it, “Not because you have the one arm, but because you’re a mannequin,” Five didn’t like that he had to remind himself verbally of that. He didn’t know why it mattered that he brought her a new shirt. She was just a doll. It wasn’t as if she wanted to be changed. If she was changed, it was because he physically did it and wanted it. Did he want her to wear a different shirt?

It was too much to think about right now. Five tossed the shirt over to cover her head before he went back into the bag. He’d managed to dig down far enough in what he figured was a house and hit the basement. He’d found a few things, but he mostly found a few bottles of wine. Five hadn’t drunk when he was home, but he had the few times he managed to come across it now. 

Once the bottle was open, he carried it with him as he went to look over his wall of equations. Taking a swig every now and then, he started working on his math. Trying every day to figure out how to reverse what he’d done. How to get back home. At first, he didn’t think it mattered what exact day or year he went back. If he did it correctly, he’d end up in a properly aged form for whatever year that was or what his body currently was. It was just a matter of making sure the math was right.

Five had decided what he needed to do. He had to get back and he had to stop this all from happening. He still didn’t know what had happened to cause it all, but that didn’t really matter. What mattered was stopping it. He could figure out what caused it once he was back and had his family to help him stop it. He already had clues. Well. Just one. A prosthetic eyeball that he’d found in his brother Luther’s hand. Get back and stop this from happening.

Before he knew it, he had finished the bottle and stumbled back over to the corner. His head felt a little fuzzy and he wasn’t entirely sure what all he’d written on the wall. Some mornings after he drank like that, he had to wipe it all off and start over. Five knew he had shouldn’t drink, especially since he ate so little and had little water, but there was no one here to tell him not to do it.

His eyes went back to the mannequin and her blouse covered head. With a sigh, he reached over and pulled it off, “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that,” he started as he put his hand back out and rested it against her stomach, “I’m just...a little confused,” her body hard, because she was made of some kind of plastic material, but it wasn’t like Five had a ton of experience with what other people felt like.

He wished he was sitting on the other side. Her eyes were painted in his direction. Five looked the other way as he talked, “I don’t have a lot of experience with other people. Most of them were morons, so I never bothered talking to them. Kind of wish I had now,” it felt easy to talk to her. She didn’t judge him. She couldn’t, “I just wish there was one other person here…” he told himself that anyone would do. Just another living person. Truth was that he wished it was Dolores. Anyone from his family would have been acceptable, but Dolores was the one he thought about the most. 

As if puberty hadn’t been hard enough, now he was stuck going through it like this. Dolores had really been the only girl that wasn’t a family member that he’d known personally. He looked at the little ID card picture of her sometimes. She’d been cute when they met, but she had grown up to be rather pretty. Having the image in his mind of what she looked like and what she would look like, it was easy to put together what she might look like at the same age he was. That made longer nights a little easier.

“I haven’t actually seen a naked woman before and I guess what I’m really worried about is that if I have to help you change…” he shook his head a little, “It would be a little weird for us both. For me. Shit, I need to stop doing that. You’re not...you’re not real…” but if she wasn’t real, why did he feel so nervous about this? It was strange, “You probably don’t even have nipples.”

Five didn’t have to change her. He could just leave her like she was. It wasn’t a big deal. He could just leave her in that polka dot shirt forever. It’s not like anyone else would be seeing it. Except for him. Maybe Five really did want to see her in something else.

“Listen, maybe we should just sleep on it and see how we…” no, that wasn’t the right word again, “...how I feel in the morning,” even a bottle of wine didn’t make him so drunk that he couldn’t think a little bit. He knew this one-sided conversation was crossing into territory he wasn’t ready to cross and he needed to rest. Five told himself he wasn’t desperate. That he didn’t need to go that route, because he was going to find a way back home, “Good night, Dolores,” was all he could get out before he settled down to sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

“I know I’ve been working a lot lately,” they fought about it often enough. That and his drinking were the things they fought about the most. She just wanted him to spend more time with her and include her in his work more. It was reasonable for her to want those things. She was always a smart girl and he knew her math was sound, “I was thinking, since it’s our anniversary, we should just spend the night together. What do you think?” it was hard to keep exact track of the time passing, but Five was good at it now. He had a good estimate of how long he’d been here. It had been approximately ten years. 

“I apologized for what I said last night already, Dolores. I don’t know how many times you want me to say it. I’m sorry I had that magazine hidden. I have needs too and sometimes it is just easier to take care of them myself,” he knew when he found that magazine in that gas station that it was going to be a problem. It wasn’t like he looked at it often. It had only been twice. It was barely even intact. Mostly burnt and the pages were dried and crumbling, “Do I need to bring up how I’m still waiting for an apology for you going through my stuff while I was out?”

Sighing, he walked over and sat down on his knees in front of the chair she was sitting in. He leaned in and rested his head against her chest, “We shouldn’t be fighting like this. You’re right. It’s silly. We’re both just going a little stir crazy lately. There hasn’t been any rain lately, so tomorrow I’ll get the bike out and we’ll go for a ride,” he had long since upgraded from the little wagon he’d found when he first got here. It had taken some time to put it together from the scrap pieces he’d found, but he had a bike now and a cart he could pull along behind it.

“I think the exercise will be good for us both,” not that he didn’t get plenty. Five woke early and spent a good portion of his days out scavenging for food and water for them, “Maybe we’ll get lucky and get a cool breeze,” those didn’t happen often. Usually, it was a hot wind that kicked up dust and dirt. 

“I can’t believe it’s been ten years,” though it bothered him that it was only an estimate. There were seasons and it appeared to be spring, which he assumed was when he’d arrived, “You know, I do have a surprise for you.”

He moved to pick up the messenger bag that no longer fit around his shoulder the way it should, but he still brought it with him when he went out, “They’re a little corroded, but I’m hoping they still work,” he fished out a pair of batteries. He’d found batteries before and used them until they went dry. At this point, he’d been digging out the same areas for so long that he was finally able to get to underground storage areas. Basements and cellars that had food, water, clothes, tools, and various other things people tossed in those areas of there houses. The radios he found weren’t any good for playing the actual radio, but he got lucky sometimes and found old cassette tapes and some CDs that weren’t damaged, “I haven’t been able to find any Good Charlotte CDs. I know they’re your favorite, but looks like record players were making a come back,” he found some modern players that could plug in and even charge with a computer. Neither of which helped him, but he found one that could use batteries. It was just a matter of finding enough batteries.

Most surprising to find, beyond batteries and bottled water, was a book written by his sister, Vanya. He’d read it fully a number of times. It gave a lot of insight into the things that had happened since he left them. Five was proud of what she’d written, but he was sure the rest of his family wasn’t so happy with it. She had been the sibling he felt closest to and when she wrote about him, he felt his chest tighten when she mentioned leaving a light on for him every night. How long had she done that? How many years did she leave sandwiches out for him? It made him feel guilty over leaving again. Like the sequined messenger bag, he kept the book with him almost at all times. Taking to writing notes about his work in the margins. 

“Working with some music for a few days will be nice too,” he still worked tirelessly on his formulations to get back home and how to figure out what had caused all of this to happen. Five went days without sleep sometimes. Just staring at the wall where he wrote. 

But tonight was about Dolores. 

So he put the one unwarped record he’d managed to find onto the record player after putting in the batteries and started it up. It took a moment and he was concerned it might catch fire, but it slowly started to play music. It had been some time since he’d heard music. It didn’t matter what it was. All that mattered was there he could hear it. He’d come to realize that there were barely even any insects left in the world. Whatever had happened, it had wiped out everything. The eerie silence that came about most days was unnerving. It was just nice to hear something for once.

Taking his goggles and hat off, he tossed them aside and tried to run his fingers through his hair and dust off his jacket a bit. Showering wasn’t an option and he didn’t waste drinking water to clean up. He collected rainwater whenever he could, but he wished he had a bit more to clean up more tonight. Appearances had never been terribly important to him, but he knew he was more than a little worse for wear these days. He could feel the facial hair and had debated trying to shave it off, but it ended up being useful for the weather.

Straightening up and clearing his throat a bit, he walked back over to her and smiled a little, “Would you like to dance Dolores?” they had never danced before. Five was positive he wasn’t a dancer, but he’d always been good on his feet. Quick to pick up fighting moves and fairly agile. Plus, it wasn’t like anyone was around to see how terrible they were at it.

“It’s not like you to be shy,” they weren’t shy, awkward teenagers anymore. They were in their early twenties now, but it seemed she had less confidence in herself than he did, “I’ll hold you, don’t worry.”

Five scooped her up in his arms, positioning her one hand onto his shoulder as he held her torso firmly. He tilted his head a little so her head could rest against his shoulder. Closing his eyes, he just focused on the feeling of the weight against himself and in his arms along with the sound of the music. It was a calming feeling. It was a feeling that got him through most nights and some days. Laying out on the pile of blankets he’d collected and the mattress he’d found with her just leaned up against him was the most calming feeling in the world. Five knew he wasn’t alone so long as he could feel her head on his shoulder.

“Who would have thought when we met in this library that we’d be like this one day,” he said softly as he moved about a bit to the music, “I know we both had different plans for our futures, but I’m glad I have you here with me. I don’t think I could do this alone, Dolores,” he’d cared about his family, but he’d always seen himself as more of a loner. It had never been hard to be alone for him, but this was something he knew he couldn’t do alone. There was no telling how long he’d be here and if he had to be alone all these years and possibly more, Five knew he’d lose his mind. Dolores kept him sane.

“Dolores...I…” he’d never said this before. Five wasn’t good at being emotionally affectionate. It was still something he was learning. Neither of them were the type to be overly emotional to begin with. It would only get better with time, he assumed. Yet this was something he wanted to say. To show her how important she was to him, “You mean more to me than I can ever say”

He swallowed hard before tilting his head to kiss her temple, “I love you, Dolores.”


	4. Chapter 4

Skies were clearer these days. Sometimes there was the sound of an insect here and there. He’d seen the grass starting to get greener. Even seen fungus again. The world was starting to live again. Mother Nature would always recover, it seemed. It was humanity that would never come back. Whatever had happened, all those years ago, nature was healing itself. So long as the planet itself was actually still here, it would survive. 

Meanwhile, the last of humanity was starting to feel the strain of age. Five didn’t go out as much and didn’t travel as far from home. He spent a lot of time sitting with the few books he’d managed to find and continue to work on his math. His determination to get home and stop this from happening is what kept him going. That and Dolores. She always reminded him of how important it was for him to keep working on it. To keep practicing with his time jumps. He refused to risk another future jump. All of his energy went into trying to open a time portal to the past.

His body was starting to feel not only age but several decades of merely getting enough to survive. He ate as little as he could get away with, despite Dolores’ best efforts to convince him to do otherwise. He drank enough water to not feel thirsty all the time and ate enough food not to feel hungry all the time. It wasn’t quite enough though. He was thin and it was hard to move some days. Some weeks were better than others with finding food. Even when he did find it, it was hit or miss on if he could even eat it. Dolores had warned him against eating that Twinkie he’d found and he’d learned his lesson about that. Apparently the myth of Twinkie’s not having a shelf life was bull-shit.

He groaned as he sat up from his mattress, feeling his joints pop and crack a bit as he climbed to his feet slowly. Dolores was still laying in the bed, covered up by the old blankets. He moved around to get his body to loosen up. He hadn’t been able to find any canisters of instant coffee in a few years. He missed coffee.

Walking over to the wall, he added a mark to it. There were hundreds and hundreds of similar marks in the same area. It was how he kept track of the days. He went through and counted them up every once in a while. He estimated there to be at least ten thousand. That would put him having been here almost forty-five years. It was hard to tell when there were leap years and if he’d slept over a day or two, but it was a good estimate.

Next, he took a drink from his water cantine. He swished it around in his mouth and used his finger to brush his teeth a bit before spitting it out and over the broken-down wall. He splashed a bit on his face and used the cleanest cloth he could find to wipe his face clean for the day. There wasn’t a mirror anywhere. He had found a few, but found them unnecessary. Dolores didn’t want one and he certainly didn’t need one. What did it matter what he looked like? He cleaned up on special occasions, like their anniversary, but that was about it.

Now he moved back towards their bed and he lifted her up from it, “Good morning,” he kissed her forehead lightly as he carried her over to the chair she spent most of her days sitting in. Five liked taking care of Dolores. It wasn’t her fault she only had one arm and no legs. He’d long convinced himself that she had been injured by whatever had caused the world to end up this way. They had been together for so long now. There was a time in his life that he couldn’t imagine having a meaningful relationship with anyone, but these years with Dolores had been important to him.

She kept him sane and she helped him a lot. She’d always been good with numbers and she had been good at getting clarity on his work. Dolores said a few months ago that something with the numbers and equations seemed off. That something was wrong. He agreed, but he couldn’t figure out what it was that was wrong. He wouldn’t have even noticed they were off if it wasn’t for her. 

“I promise I’ll take it easy today. No heavy lifting, I promise,” she always worried about his back, “I dug out a cellar the other day. It’s got a good lock on it. I’m just going to get it open and see what’s inside and then I’ll be back. Should only take a few hours. I’ll be back by lunch.

“I’ll be careful. My ankle is feeling better,” he’d slipped the other day and she got on to him that he shouldn’t be out digging so much anymore. She’d even brought up the subject that it might finally be time for them to move somewhere else. That they might have scavenged the city dry. Five knew she was right, but he was also worried that he might not be able to get back home if he was in a different location. 

He smiled a little and laughed, “Yeah. Maybe there will be some coffee in there. It’d be nice to get some again,” she was trying to delay him going out because she didn’t really want him to go. She did that a lot. Get him talking about something and before he knew it, it was too late to go out, “I remember. We had our first cup together at Griddy’s. You were always so mean to that waitress,” she’d been so cute when they were younger. Snippy and short with everyone, except for him. He was sure he was the only person who ever made her blush.

“I’d kill for a doughnut right now. Or a fluffernutter sandwich,” he’d never got the chance to give her marshmallows when they were younger. It was something she’d said she never tried. He’d meant to bring her a sandwich, but he never did. Five told himself that it wasn’t too late. He could still make it back and stop this from happening. Once he did, he could find her again and take her out for coffee like they used to. 

Leaning down to her, he kissed her softly, “I promise, just a few hours. I’ll be back before you know it. Then we’ll read A Brief History of Time together,” they’d read it so many times, but like the book his sister wrote, it was one of a few books he’d found intact. Luckily, they both enjoyed it. It always helped keep them in the right mind to continue his formulations.

“Maybe I’ll find a nice new shirt for you or some wine,” he knew not to bring up alcohol too much. Dolores was never quiet about the fact that she thought he drank too often. It wasn’t like they found a lot of booze, but when they did, he did tend to drink it all in one night. He refused to think she was right though. It wasn’t like they had much else to do. He didn’t see the issue of drinking the night away if they had the option. It wasn’t like she didn’t put away her fair share of glasses, “A new notebook would be nice too.”

“I think you reviewing the wall work would be a great idea. Maybe you’ll be able to figure out what we’ve got wrong without me here to pester you all day,” he half teased. Despite all their years together, they could still be playful with each other. Five felt like that was important, “I’ll be back in a few hours.”

With that he went for his goggles, backpack, and shovel, “Love you too,” he called out as he left the little area they called their home.


	5. Chapter 5

“Hi, Five!” he ignored the sound of his own name. There was a time when he would have killed to hear his own name, but he found it more irritating than he’d thought it would be. He kind of missed the silence sometimes. Instead of responding, he continued to pour his coffee. He spent as little time in the cafeteria as possible. He just wanted the cheap sludge they called coffee. 

Not that most considered it good. Five was used to the coffee he’d made with the limited supplies he had in the apocalypse. Mostly, he just mixed the grounds in with the water, let it sit a while, then drank it like that. So getting a few grounds in when he drank the coffee from the office cafeteria didn’t bother him. Deck sludge. That’s what some people called it. He liked it.

“Five?” he continued to ignore the man who kept trying to talk to him. They weren’t important. He wasn’t here to be friends. They weren’t even co-workers in his mind. He was here for a reason and they weren’t part of it. He came into the office just long enough to get his coffee, get his orders, and then he was gone. He just went on one mission after another. Never taking a break. His breaks were when he showed up to a hit early and could get a beer.

Under one arm, he had his briefcase that held his personal items, in that hand he had the work briefcase that rarely left him for more than a few seconds, and in his other hand, he had his coffee. That was all he needed in life right now.

It was strange to be around other people again. Moving people. People who were not just alive in his mind, but actually alive. They talked to him, they could touch him, and they could affect his life. He’d been shocked when the woman who called herself the Handler showed up. At first, he’d thought he was just drunk. He’d even been tempted to shoot her. Not because he wanted to kill her, but because he wanted to see if she would disappear. 

She’d made him an offer. To come with her and work for the company that employed her. He’d been tempted to turn her down. He had his own work to do, but then she told him that his contract would only be for five years and then he could retire wherever and whenever he wanted. Dolores had told him that he needed to do it. 

Parting with Dolores had been hard. He couldn’t bring her with. He promised her that he’d find her again one day. That they’d be together again. He didn’t take much with him when he started working for the Temps Commission. Just his sister’s book, a picture of a dog he’d never met, and a cut out of a sequined Saturn. They were always in his personal briefcase. It had been so hard to leave her though. He still thought about her a lot. That she was still there, in that awful place. Many nights, he thought about going back for her. It was wrong to leave her, even though she’d convinced him to do it.

Most days, he got through it by focusing on his new work. The Temps Commission was strange. They were extremely old fashioned but highly advanced at the same time. His job was simple. All he had to do was kill people. 

At first, he thought his age might be an issue with that. Once he was here, they got him cleaned up and he saw himself for the first time in decades. Five barely recognized the person in the mirror. It was hard to tell himself that was him. The Commission wasn’t concerned with his age though. After just a few days with their medical team, he felt better than he ever had before. He told himself that once he worked out all of his plans in his head, he was going to snatch the file of what exactly they did to him in there. 

Five took to the killing rather easily. It didn’t bother him. It was just about survival. If he killed, then he got to live. If he lived, he had a chance to stop what was going to happen to the world. Plus, it was easy to tell himself what the Commission told all of them. That what they were doing was for the good of the world. That in order to keep the world moving as it was supposed to, certain people had to go. Problematic people. If they were a problem, then they needed to go. It was as simple as that.

It felt good having that kind of control too. Five was so used to having to dig and scavenge for everything. It was nice being the one in control of the situation. Everything had been out of his control for so long. It felt good having power. Nothing anyone did or said to him mattered, because their lives were in his hands. He got to pull the trigger and that felt good. It would be a lie if he said he didn’t use it as a way to work out some of his own anger and frustrations. Where others in his position took enjoyment in slow kills and torturing for information, Five never let it get to that point. He was quick and he was efficient. 

It had been a few years since he started working for the Commission and he moved up the ranks fairly quickly. Most seemed to know him, but he didn’t bother to know them. They knew who was important and that was all he bothered to know. Knowing who was above him was all that really mattered. They were the ones he would have to deal with in the end. 

Five sipped his coffee as he walked down the stairs to the Corrections offices. They weren’t normal offices. Mostly target practice and sparring practice rooms, “Hello, Five!” he really wished people would stop doing that. He disliked it, but it was against company policy to kill each other inside the office, “I was wondering if I could speak with you.”

“No,” he huffed.

The man ignored him and continued to follow him. Five wasn’t the tallest of men, but this man was even shorter than himself, “Hi, I’m Herb. I don’t think we’ve been introduced. I work in case management,” not that Five really cared what that was. He rolled his eyes a little as he kept walking.

“Your work is flawless. I really wanted to say that. We all think you’re such an asset,” he’d heard that before. Five was good at what he did, but he didn’t need a pat on the back to feel better about himself, “You’re really becoming a legend around here,” not that he cared. He was only doing this because it offered him an out from the hell he’d been living in. It gave a chance to do his work in a more controlled and less chaotic setting. To clear his mind a little and focus, “We really do encourage the better agents to get to know the different departments around here,” not something he cared to do, “My daughter works in analysis. She’s really good with numbers. You should meet her.”

It was the first time someone had thrown their daughter at him. Five was nearing sixty, but he was in good health these days and, as Herb had said, he was becoming a legend around here. While it left a guilty feeling in his stomach, but Five would be lying if he said he hadn’t been involved with a few women since joining the Commission. He avoided finding women at the office and instead stuck to women he found on missions, “No.”

“Oh. Okay then,” Herb still sounded chipper, “If you change your mind, she works on the third floor in the analysis office. You can’t miss her. She’s always in there.”

“No,” it was time to end the conversation. Five walked into the agent dispatching room and closed the door behind him, blocking Herb out.

“You should take him up on the offer. I hear Herb’s daughter is a bitch,” his eyes moved over to one of the other agents. He was a younger man, usually wore one of those silly masks the others were fond of. Five couldn’t remember his name, but he always picked out a rat looking mask and he was awfully fond of his nice blond hair, “You might do her some good.”

“Not interested.”

“That’s right. You got an old lady back home, right?” he tensed. Things always got out around here. He wasn’t sure how, but they did, “What was her name?”

“...Dolores.”

“That’s right. Dolores. Cute name.”


	6. Chapter 6

They were all morons. Five knew that for a long time, but now he had proof. All they had to was meet a simple deadline. Just be in the alleyway and they could go home. He’d done things he didn’t want to do to get them this chance, not that they cared about that. They didn’t care what he’d been through all this time to save them. All they cared about was themselves. Because his family was filled with morons. He’d told them how awful the future was and what was going to happen in this timeline, but they just didn’t care. They couldn’t get their shit together long enough to care. What part of _you all die_ couldn’t they understand?

Five needed a drink. There was decent coffee here, but Five needed something stronger after all the bullshit he’d been through recently. His siblings didn’t seem to realize that it had been non-stop for him for the past two weeks. He’d scattered them all over the early sixties, but he’d dropped himself right into the heart of it. Klaus got to lounge around for three years just being himself, Allison was in the process of starting a new family, and even Luther had a job and a life. They had begun to cultivate their lives here over the time they had since what happened. Five wasn’t given that luxury.

It had been more than a rough two weeks the last few weeks. If he had to compare it to his time in the apocalypse, he would almost take that over this. He kept telling himself that it was worth it in the end if they succeeded. If they could just fix this, then it would be fine. Even if he was stuck in a body much younger than what he really was, he could tolerate that. Eventually, he would grow up again. Five would prefer to be his older looking self because that was who he was, but this wouldn’t be so bad once he got out of puberty.

Though he had noticed that he might be aging more quickly than he should be. When he cleaned up after taking care of the Commission board, he noticed the sleeves of his jacket were a little too short. Time travel was a funny thing. There was no telling how it could affect his body at this point. Maybe he was going to age rapidly until his body caught up with his mind. Five wasn’t so sure that was a good thing though. Rabid aging and rapid de-aging were both dangerous things for the body.

“Five, we are you going?”

His brother tried to stop him as he headed out the back door into the alleyway, “I need a drink.”

“It’s ten in the morning and you’re a…”

“Think that over before you say it!” he snapped.

“You look like a kid. No one is going to sell you a drink this time of day.”

“I don’t need them to sell it to me,” he just had to pop into the storage room, take what he wanted, and leave, “I know how to get what I want,” except when it came to his family, apparently.

“Just be careful,” he appreciated the sentiment, but he didn’t return it at this point.

Five was upset and he just needed to get out of here. He could time jump again, but what was the point? If his family was still here, he’d just be jumping back into another apocalypse and without anyone this time. The chances of him finding Dolores there again were slim to none. This week had been a shit week and it wasn’t over with yet. They still had a few days until the bomb went off and he might as well spend it drunk.

The sixties weren’t terrible to look at. He knew it had its problems, but it was very aesthetically pleasing. He remembered the last time he was here. It was actually close to the day it was now. It had been his last mission and he’d spent some time in the morning getting a beer at a bar and working on his time jump equations. It would be that day that he decided to go home. That wasn’t going to matter now. Because the world was ending in a few days. 

Five tried to recall where the bar was. It had good beer. It was on a corner. He remembered there being an ice cream shop across the street. Good business idea. Send the kids in for some ice cream while the parents went to get shit faced. Maybe he’d get some ice cream too. Ice cream and beer sounded good right about now.

Hands shoved into his pockets, he rounded the corner and nearly tripped over a yapping dog, “Ugh...git…” he tried to move around the little pug, but it yipped at him and snapped at his ankles, “Beat it!” he wasn’t in the mood for someone’s ill-behaved dog, “I don’t want to kick a dog,” there were a lot of things he’d done and was willing to do, but Five wasn’t one to kick a dog. Especially a little one, “What the hell is wrong with you?!” the damn thing followed him a bit and kept snapping at his heels, “You might be cute, but I’ll throw you in a trash can, you little hell hound,” he growled back at it.

“Someone help!” Five was generally good at ignoring cries for help. People used to call out for help all the time when he worked for the Commission. Yet it seemed to make the dog more aggressive.

The damn thing grabbed at his socks and tugged, “What do you want?! I don’t have food!”

“Help!” the cry for help seemed to make the dog bark more excitedly.

“Fine. Fine. I’ll go look,” he rolled his eyes. It wasn’t like he had anything better to do. The world was ending soon, so he might as well help some idiot before it all went to hell.

The dog ran back to the alleyway he’d passed by. No one else seemed concerned about the girl crying out for help. That seemed to be one of the issues the area and time had. She shouldn’t have been out alone if she didn’t want trouble. That’s what people would say behind her parent’s back if something happened. Humans were generally disgusting, but Five was one of them and he had to deal with that.

The pug ran ahead of him and started barking and growling at the people in the alley. Five froze at the sight of it. The first thing his eyes focused on was the item the two people were fighting over. It was a briefcase. Not just any briefcase. It was a Commission briefcase. Just like the one he’d lost due to his family’s incompetence barely even a day ago. 

The next was the man struggling to get it away from the teenage girl. It was a Corrections Agent. Five couldn’t remember his name, because he’d not been high on the list of people for him to remember. He remembered that rat mask though. The fact that he didn’t just shoot the girl and take the briefcase meant she was important and he’d been given orders to keep her alive, “Help!”

Five could see why she was important. He felt his heart leap up into his throat as he stared at her, “Dolores…”

It wasn’t possible. Right in front of him was the spitting image of the girl who used to sit next to him drinking coffee and eating doughnuts. The girl who kept her hair in braids and wore her school uniform all the time. The one who could keep up with him when it came to talks of physics and space. It just wasn’t possible. 

At the sound of his voice, they both turned their attention to him for a moment. Her face looked as shocked as his probably was, “Five…”

“Five,” the gruff voice said his name too from behind the mask, “I knew this bitch would lead me to you.”

Dolores took the chance to swing her foot out and she kicked the agent hard in the groin. She grabbed the briefcase and ran, the dog chasing after her. Five was normally very fast to react to things, but this had surprised him. Being surprised wasn’t something he was used to. Before he could refocus his thoughts, she had run past him, hauling the briefcase with her. The agent was still dealing with his own pain, so she finally turned on his heels and went after her, “Dolores!”


	7. Chapter 7

Five had never known her to be very athletic. They’d spent most of their dates sitting in a booth and he’s spent most of his time with her in the apocalypse with her not having legs. So to see her running and even carrying that briefcase, he was impressed. There were agents who had trouble doing that. Those briefcases weren’t the lightest. They were highly advanced pieces of technology and they weighed a good bit. But she clutched it to her chest, wrapping her arms around it as best she could, and ran down the sidewalk. 

“Dolores!” he knew it was her because she would look over her shoulder at him when he said her name, but she didn’t slow down. Neither did her dog. He recognized it now. Her wallet. She’d had a picture of that dog in it, “Dolores!” no one bothered to stop them. They were just teenagers running down the sidewalk. No one seemed to think anything strange about it. Just two kids in private school looking uniforms running down the street. He supposed that worked to his advantage. If this were their home timeline, he might have gotten tackled for chasing a girl like this.

“Five!” he heard his own name and realized that the corrections agent had recovered from her cheap kick. Now they were both being chased by him. He’d taken off his mask and Five could see his face when he looked over his shoulder. It was him. The one who had asked him questions about his life before the Commission. The one that seemed to know an awful lot about it, despite him not being open to people there about it, “Stop those kids! They stole my briefcase!”

“Shit…” he muttered. Apparently, that man wasn’t as stupid as he looked. People might not have cared that they were chasing each other down the sidewalk, but pegging them as thieves always worked. Tall, handsome men in good suits were generally listened to. She was the first to go down. The man who grabbed her snapped her up about the waist and her dog started snapping at his ankles. She screamed and continued to grip the briefcase as if her life depended on it. 

The man who grabbed for Five learned fast that it was a mistake. The man grabbed the arm of his jacket and he swung himself under the man’s arm and jammed his elbow into the man’s side. Once he was released, he ran for Dolores. She was kicking frantically and managed to throw the man off balance. He fell back against the wall and Five lunged with a fast punch to the face, knocking the man out. She rolled to the side, scrapping her knuckles against the sidewalk as she started running the minute her feet hit the ground. She stumbled to get upright as she took off again, “Dolores, wait!”

She didn’t though. 

“I have to do everything myself,” he heard the growl from behind him.

Turning fast, he saw the agent and he hardened his face, “Fuck off,” he sneered before dropping low and sweeping his leg out to knock the man off his feet. The Commission agents all fought the same. They were all trained the same. None of them were like him. They had all been ordinary humans when they got caught up in some kind of time mishap that landed them in the Commission’s lap. Most of them had never had to survive. They didn’t spend their childhoods being trained day and night by a sadistic bastard who treated them like some kind of superhero team. They tended to be easy to take down in a one on one fight.

Five looked around and saw Dolores disappearing into a park. He had been trying to keep a lowish profile since being here, but he didn’t bother to run again. He ported himself to the park with a spacial jump, putting a good distance between himself and the agent. Dolores hadn’t got far, “Dolores!” she wouldn’t stop though.

He couldn’t bring himself to lunge at her the way he did other people. This was Dolores. The first person outside of his family that he had been close to. Not only that, but his mind connected her with the life he had in the apocalypse. All that time alone and it was she who kept him going. Seeing her the way he remembered her, he was suddenly aware of how delusional he’d been. How his mind had adapted to the insanity in order to keep him sane. He suddenly remembered that she was a thirteen-year-old girl. She wasn’t a monster like the correction agents in the Commission.

He ported himself in front of her and she screamed, nearly falling back. The dog barked and growled at him as he reached out fast and grabbed the briefcase. Survival was still at the forefront of his mind. That briefcase was survival not just for him, but for his family and the world. She didn’t let go of it though. Her arms were locked around it tight as if it were the most important thing in the world. Right now, it was.

“Dolores, is it really you?” she was breathing heavily and her face was sweaty and red from the running.

“Let go!” she tugged back on the briefcase as he tried to pull it towards himself. When he didn’t let up, she surprised him by running forward and shoving him back into a tree. He felt the air leave his lungs and the shock of the aggressive behavior from her made him loosen his grip. She took the chance and ran again.

It didn’t take long for him to recover at all, but the corrections agent was in the park now too. He was on Dolores faster than he was. He tackled her down, but the briefcase still didn’t leave her arms. She curled up on it and he felt his anger rising as the man kicked her hard in the side. When her dog went after him, he kicked it too. Kicking little girls and puppies were signs of a true monster, even to Five, “Get away from her!”

He ported over and threw himself at the taller man. They both tumbled to the ground, but he was only there for a moment. He ported again to stand and pushed his foot into the man’s throat. The sound of grunting pain caught his attention and he saw Dolores getting to her feet again and running. That was all the time the agent needed. He grabbed Five’s foot and threw him back, “The Handler was right. She’s throwing you off.”

That got hit attention too, “The Handler?” he should have figured that woman was behind this. She was always interfering. It was her fault that he was even still here. She’d put that ridiculous timestamp on using the briefcase he’d worked to get, “What did you do to Dolores?!”

“Doesn’t matter. She won’t get far. She never does.”

Five smirked, “Let’s dance, Asshole.”

“The name’s Leon,” not that Five cared. He hadn’t cared before and he didn’t care now. Before they could fight though, Leon took a step back, “As much as I’d like to be the one to take you down, I ain’t got the time. I got to get that little bitch. Too many eyes here.”

Five was suddenly aware of all the people in the park watching them. He had to get out of here before he lead them back to his family, “I’ll get you later, Asshole,” he growled before teleporting out.

He wasn’t going back to their little base though. Five had to find Dolores. If he was lucky, she wouldn’t have used the time to escape and use the briefcase. She likely didn’t even know how to use it. Just knew that she needed it. If the Handler was behind this, he figured they must have grabbed her shortly after he jumped to the apocalypse. They were resorting to using a child to get to him. He had to find her. If she had a briefcase, he could get her back home and he could get his family back home. 

Finding Dolores could fix everything.


	8. Chapter 8

It wasn’t hard to find Dolores. He had plenty of experience in finding not only things but people as well. She hadn’t fought back, so he was sure she was in flight mode. He had his doubts that she knew how to use the briefcase, so he just had to search. He used what he knew of her. She liked coffee and doughnuts, but any place that had those would have too many people. She liked sequins, but she wouldn’t hide in a store. That had too much foot traffic too. Dolores would find somewhere quiet that she could hide. 

Like the textbook section of a library.

That’s right where he found her. She had the dog hidden behind her legs as she sat on the floor in a back corner. The briefcase engulfed most of her body just from the size of it. The little dog was huddled up behind her pulled up knees. She looked so small and scared. She looked like she was going to cry. 

It was just like the night he walked her home when she told him that her family was moving. He saw through the facade of her being so mature for her age and saw her for the child she was. Five was used to strange things happening, even as a kid, but she wasn’t. She was a normal girl. He could only imagine what had happened to her. To be dragged off the street by the Handler’s little goon and there was no telling what they had done to her before she managed to slip away.

“Dolores?” he said her name softly as he edged closer to her. The dog growled and he glared at it until it tucked itself away under her legs again, “Dolores?” she had said his name before. She knew who he was.

“Stay away from me,” she said weakly. It made his chest feel tight to look at her and to hear her voice again. 

During his time in the apocalypse, he’d heard her voice many times, but he was coming around to the idea that it had all been in his head. It was painful to be forced to realize that he’d basically driven himself insane for the sake of companionship. This was the first time he was really hearing her voice in all these years, “I don’t want to hurt you, Dolores. I promise.”

Slowly, he settled onto his knees in front of her and started to reach out. He watched her fingers tighten onto the briefcase so hard that her knuckles were turning white, “Don’t try to take it,” her voice deepened for a moment, but she was hardly intimidating. 

Five wanted to. He wanted that briefcase in his possession. He could take it from her. It wouldn’t be hard. But this was Dolores. His Dolores. He didn’t want to scare her off. Plus, if she was here, that meant she needed to go back to where she belonged too. If they left her here, they risked her doing something to hurt the timeline. Five had to get her to come back with them. Leaving her here wasn’t a valid option, “I won’t,” he tried to keep his voice soft and calm. That wasn’t his usual these days. He’d been running on caffeine and high stress for two weeks now. It wasn’t easy to keep himself calm, “Dolores, how did you get here?”

Her eyes shot up and he could see them tearing up, “It’s because of you. They were looking for you. They...they did this to me...because of you.”

It made sense that they would dip into his history to figure out how to get to him. Using his family wasn’t an easy option, but going after a little girl was, “I’m sorry,” he rarely said that, but he meant it, “I’m going to get you back to your family. Back to two-thousand and two. I promise. I just need you to come with me,” he had to get her out of the public and back to where they had been staying. Once there, he was not letting that briefcase out of his sight. They were using it and they were getting out of here.

“Two-thousand and two? Five...that was seventeen years ago…” which wasn’t entirely accurate since they were in the early sixties.

“What?” he furrowed his brows together, “What do you mean?”

“Five, I’m from twenty-nineteen. They did this to me. They took my body. They made me look like this. They took me to that place, Five. Where everything was gone and everything was broken,” the apocalypse. They’d taken her that, he realized. The bag. He’d found it sitting on top of all the rubble all those years ago. Just sitting on top of the rocks, as if someone had dropped it. Because she had. She must have tried to run and dropped it, “They did this to me because I couldn’t tell them where you were.”

Body transferring. It was something he’d heard about, but something that was still in testing phases with the Commission. Good correction agents like himself were hard to find. Letting one die off because of age was a terrible waste. Being able to transfer them into a younger body, a built one that they could control was something they were highly interested in. For a short time, he’d made a deal with the Handler to take one of those bodies, but he’d decided to go back to stopping the apocalypse instead.

Had they really done that to her? Was the Handler that desperate that she would start snatching people from his past and doing this to them? As that agent had said, seeing Dolores like this had been enough to throw him off for a moment. Had she been sprung on him in the middle of a fight, it likely would have been enough to swing the fight to their favor. As it was, that other man had been more focused on getting her than fighting him. That meant she wasn’t meant to be out here. She’d run away, “I know somewhere safe we can go. You can’t stay here, Dolores. They’ll find you. Come with me and I’ll keep you safe. We’ll get you back home. I promise.”

“I don’t have a home, Five. They were my home. The Commission was my life.”

That threw him off almost as much as seeing her, “What?”

“Five, I work for the Commission. My dad works for them. That’s why we had to move.”

It was a lot to process, but he managed, “Your father…” she’d said he got promoted and they had to move closer to his office. If she worked for the Commission, that meant she’d been there when he was. Five shook his head, “That doesn’t matter. We’ll get you home and we’ll get your body back. You just have to trust me,” the dog stuck it’s head out and sniffed at him. Five had always liked dogs, not that he’d ever owned one. He doubted his father would have been on board with any of them having a pet, “What’s your name? You’re a cute dog.”

“It’s Mr. Pennycrumb. He’s my dog.”

Five smiled a little, “You can come too, Mr. Pennycrumb,” he reached his hand out a little and the dog sniffed it. Surprisingly, it licked his hand and moved out for him to be able to pick him up, “Looks like he wants to come with. Are you going to?”

Dolores looked at him for a minute before slowly unwrapping her fingers from one side of the briefcase to grab his free hand.

Things were finally looking up.


End file.
